


Short Willows and Clean Rain

by elegaicsongstress



Series: Brought To You By Woodwick Scented Candles™ [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Mentions of Kairi - Freeform, Mentions of Xemnas, Storms, Written During a Really Slow Shift at Cracker Barrel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 03:07:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15548244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elegaicsongstress/pseuds/elegaicsongstress
Summary: A storm is coming to the Destiny Islands, and Sora can't stop thinking about Riku. Part 1 (hopefully) of a series.





	Short Willows and Clean Rain

     " _Can you spare... a heart?"_

      Sora's eyes snapped open. Hearing the sounds of the waves just outside, and the faint howl of the wind, his heart slowed and he sighed. The nightmare of Xemnas, of entrapment in the Realm of Darkness was over, and had been for quite a while. After the celebrations, private and public, of saving the world(s), of returning home, even from the heart of nothingness and darkness itself, and farewells, with promises of future training, Sora and his friends had been given time to rest. He, Riku, and Kairi had been back home on the Islands for a handful of weeks, recuperating before their training began.

      And yet, the nightmares continued. Maybe it was simply the stress of it all, of losing a home, friends, everything, and fighting to take it back over several years. Maybe it was the retroactive recognition of just how much danger he had been in. Maybe it was an unexpected side effect of having his memories removed and put back together. Or, maybe, just maybe, it was his mind's attempt to give him something to think about other than the silver-haired problem he had been having. Sora's face twisted into a frown as he thought about the silver-haired boy. At first, the feelings had been confusing, hard to interpret. After all, he had lost his home, and everything he had known, including his two closest friends. But gradually, he had noticed. Seeing Riku in the depths of Monstro had warmed his heart, far more than learning about Kairi had made him fear. Riku's betrayals had hurt in a way the loss of Kairi never had. And, when he had saved Kairi and escaped Hollow Bastion, at the cost of Riku, he should've felt victorious, at least a little. Instead, he just felt cold. He was glad to have Kairi back, sure, but losing Riku made him feel empty. It took losing Riku for good, or so he thought, to finally make him realize how much the older boy meant to him.

      The thoughts of what he should or shouldn't say had tormented Sora ever since The World That Never Was, but were, until recently, buried under more important matters like Not Dying and The Ethics of Reabsorbing Your Now Sentient Other Half Permanently. And now, after finally getting him back, and finally having time to think and relax, he was petrified to say anything Worse, Riku had seemed tense lately. Nothing overt, or hostile, but Riku had gone distant, or touchy, at the oddest of times, and Sora hadn't the slightest idea why. (Well, he had something of an idea. More of a hope, really, but there's no way that Riku could be feeling the same way.) He worried that he had upset the other boy, in some way large enough to be a problem but small enough to not be worth noticing. Or that all the time Riku had spent in darkness had adversely affected him. Anything, really, except what he secretly hoped the truth was.

      Sora sighed, looking out his window. The sky was dark, the night heavy, with dark clouds hanging low and the faintest hint of sunrise at one edge of the sky. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go for a walk, he decided, and he stepped out into the night. His wandering led to the docks, and it was a simple decision to take a boat to the smaller island, where his secret place, and within it, the heart of the world lay. Sora made his way across the choppy waves with a bit of difficulty, and began to walk across the beach of the play island. As much as he had hoped that walking about would clear his head, it wasn't seeming to help much. Every fixture, every ancient tree, every nook in the rocks that was a hideaway of adventure for 3 children dreaming about a larger world was another memory of Riku that he lingered on for _just_ too long to be comfortable with. And every lingering memory of the boy made Sora dwell on how he felt, making his wandering take on a more frantic tone as the wind blew across the beach. Sora continued walking about, adrift in his semi-uncomfortable reverie, until finally, the roar of a waterfall stopped him in his tracks. The secret place. The place where, long ago, their journey began. 

      Sora stood, gazing into the hole in the cliffside, deep in thought. His mind was racing, his inner moratorium on thinking about how he felt finally worn down. Did he care about Riku? Of course. Was it at all possible that those feelings were, perhaps, a _little_ less than platonic? Possibly. But should he do anything, and risk losing his friendship with Riku? Sora thought about this, until a drop of water landing in his hair interrupted him. And another. And another. And several hundred more of its cousins. _The rain_ , he thought, as he dashed into the hole in the cliff. He should've seen this coming. The waves, the wind, the heavy clouds, all of which predicted the deluge starting to come down. And judging by the ferocity of the downpour, it wouldn't be clear enough for him to paddle back any time soon. With nowhere else to go, Sora descended deeper into the cave, heading for the open room at its heart.

      As Sora squeezed through the cave, all seemed quiet, aside from the rain. It wouldn't have been surprising if no one had been to the secret place in years. With its value only existing for Sora, Riku, and Kairi, no one else on the island would've bothered to go inside. And with Sora and Riku spending so long away from home, and Kairi spending a slightly lesser time at home, minus some very important memories, not even they would've been inside. And yet, as Sora's eyes adjusted to the dim cavern, he realized that someone else was seated inside, facing the door to the heart of the world. Someone who was, perhaps, quicker to realize that shelter from the storm would be needed. Someone with a familiar shock of silver hair. Sora's eyes widened in surprise as the taller boy came into focus.

      "Sora?" Riku asked, turning to face the smaller boy. "What are you doing here?"

       Sora was quiet for a moment that felt suspiciously long, trying to come up with an answer that wasn't, "I got distracted by my crush on you and didn't notice the storm until it started raining."

     "I was just taking a walk, that's all." Sora winced, hearing his excuse as it came out of his mouth. _That_ was the best he could come up with? Really? Riku's eyes studied him for a moment, before he shrugged and patted the ground in front of him.

      "Well, c'mere. The storm probably won't break for a while."

      Sora nodded and sat beside his oldest friend. Outside, the storm continued, but in the cave's shelter, with Riku by his side, it felt strangely peaceful. The older boy shifted, pressing against his side, as Sora drummed his fingers on the ground, accompanying the rain. And then Riku spoke once more.

      "Has everything been OK, Sora? You've seemed a little off lately," Riku asked, making Sora freeze, and making Sora's mind race. He barely registered the older boy tensing up as he waited for a reply, as Sora internally examined every action he took over the past few weeks. _Had he been acting weird?_ , he thought, grasping for an explanation, until he felt something soft and warm press against his lips.

      Sora paused. His mind went blank, for several moments. _Riku is kissing me. I'm kissing Riku._ And then Riku pulled off of him, and Sora saw the worry in the other boy's eyes. Sora thought, quietly, about how best to respond, to reassure Riku that he hadn't made a mistake.  And then a dam broke, and he was in the older boy's lap, kissing him like he was the only thing in the world, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing in close to him. He felt Riku pull off of him, giving him a chance to breathe, before he felt Riku's mouth nibbling on the pulse point of his neck. Sora whimpered at the feeling of a bite on his neck, burying his head in Riku's hair. Riku chuckled, pulling his mouth away.

      "I take it you like me back, then?" Despite the joking delivery of the line, Sora could hear the questioning relief in Riku's voice.

      "Y-Yeah. I do." Riku laid back against the floor of the cave, and Sora laid his head on the other boy's chest. Riku's arms wrapped around him, and they drifted off to sleep, content while the storm raged above.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and criticism are appreciated. Thanks for stopping by!


End file.
